I am a Zambian citizen currently residing in the United States of America,an avid lover and follower of politics, and a strong supporter of democracy in its unadulterated form. I am taking this time out of my busy schedule to communicate with you after I was apprised of the fact that Boston University’s administration ‘has chosen former Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda as the first participant in a fellowship program that rewards former African heads of state who further democracy and leave office voluntarily.’ In your Press Release, you further state that ‘He[Dr.Kaunda] is a living embodiment of Africa’s past struggle against colonization, and his commitment to democracy and free market reform makes him a symbol of Africa’s present and future challenge to live with globalization,” said Charles Stith, director of the fellowship program and former U.S. ambassador to Tanzania.’
My educated guess here is that you are not adequately aware of Dr.Kaunda’s history, starting from 1964 when he orchestrated a campaign to brainwash a largely uninformed and uneducated Zambian populace into believing that he was the only Zambian capable of bringing us into modernity. In the general elections of 1988, Dr Kenneth Kaunda picked a frog as his challenger, implying that no other Zambian was human or good enough to stand against him. Is that the form of democratic tradition you are touting?
Despite millions of dollars of international aid from well-meaning donors, Zambians remain poor, and endemic corruption is now part of Zambia’s tradition.
Dr Kaunda has contributed to the rampancy of this nation-ruining corruption.
It’s clear from the recent past that Kaunda’s regime grew increasingly repressive and depraved as it faced security and economic difficulties during the long guerrilla wars against white rule in neighboring Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and Portuguese-controlled Mozambique. UNIP’s socialist policies(Kaunda’s party), combined with a crash in the price of copper, Zambia’s main export, precipitated an economic decline unchecked for two decades.
In the face of domestic unrest and international pressure, Kaunda eventually permitted free elections in 1991. That year Dr Kaunda was a bitter, desperate man who had to be forced out of power by a people that had grown tired of consistent failure and his indifference towards Zambia’s downward spiral. He never gave up power voluntarily.
If you are serious about using Dr Kenneth Kaunda in helping to further democracy in Africa, may I suggest a few more courses that Dr Kaunda would be more comfortable with:
-Principles of Democratic Dictatorship
-How To Successfully Silence The Press
-Proven Techniques of Torturing The Opposition
-The ABCs Of Thriving Over An Ignorant Electorate
-Humanism
Lastly, I would like to make it distinctly clear that your first choice for this ‘Fellowship’ designed to advance traditions of democratic principles will hopefully be recognized as an international symbol of academic ignorance.
Yours faithfully,
Evans Munyemesha
Po Box 11891
Salt Lake City,
Utah 84141
USA